In many engineering, product development and research applications there is often a need to measure and study physical properties of components, objects and materials to better understand how the properties can be optimized for a specific purpose in a specific environment. Such physical properties are for example surface properties, adhesive properties, abrasive properties, impact properties and aerodynamic properties. A common characteristic among all the various fields/applications is that the properties are linked to one or several forces interacting between the components/objects/materials.
Measurements to study interacting forces between components/objects/materials are often made using very sophisticated and expensive types of apparatuses; for example pin-on-disc machines, friction testers, adhesion testers, wear testers, tensile testing machines, impact testers and wind tunnels. For example, US 2009/0293586 discloses a device for measuring coefficients of friction, SE 527 714 C2 discloses an apparatus and method to study frictional properties between two test objects and US 2009/0320556 discloses a monitoring apparatus for measuring the dynamic coefficient of friction of a surface.
A growing field within product development and research is to use computer aided engineering software and methods to simulate components or mechanisms and study their behavior in a virtual environment before physical prototypes are made or to try to minimize the need of using physical prototypes since physical prototypes often are time consuming and expensive. A major challenge when using simulations in product development is to ensure that material properties and physical interaction parameters, which directly affect the outcome of the simulation (for example in finite element analysis and multi body simulations), are correct. In this aspect there is still room for improvement since in most cases it is not sufficient to look up tabulated generic data for a material or physical interaction parameter and directly apply this to a specific computer model which is a very common approach today.
More and more products rely on the interaction between the product and the person using it, for example tablet PCs operated by the human touch. It is valuable to objectively be able to measure and quantify what a material or geometry feels like for anyone developing and selling these types of products ranging all the way from tablet PCs to clothing/textiles. However, up until today, to measure and quantify the sense of touch and the perceptive characteristics of a material/geometry has been very difficult to do.
Therefore, there is room for improvement and to provide a force measurement apparatus and method capable of being applied to a wide range of physical events/phenomena where there is a need to measure forces (both static and dynamic, such as sliding or rolling, forces) between two objects which is universal, mobile and easy to apply. The apparatus and method should also have the capability to study the contact forces between human skin and a material/object.